Research by Mintel: 2 out of 4 major consumer trends relate to sustainability
Four major consumer trends were recently identified by market research firm Mintel, affecting both consumer behaviour and how businesses engage with shoppers, and two relate to sustainability:
Bad business practices do not go unnoticed by consumers
- Consumers, increasingly aware of their rights, using digital platforms to express their views on companies, brands and products, pay greater attention to corporate practices and policies, feeling empowered to condemn and, possibly, change bad company practices:
- Company policies, such as a company’s ethical treatment of workers (44%) significantly influence consumers in their purchasing choices
- In the US, for 82% of restaurant customers the fair treatment of its employees will influence them in choosing a restaurant
- In the UK, for 79% of consumers a clothing company’s returns policy will affect them in their shopping decisions
Consumers expect companies to care more about the environment
- Consumers across the globe increasingly care about emissions, urban pollution and the environmental impact of products, alongside a company’s environmental protection initiatives, using technology (relevant apps) that enables them to examine a product’s environmental performance:
- 76% of UK adults consider the green credentials of products they buy, together with manufacturing and distribution practices and a company’s or brand’s reputation
- 64% of US consumers expect companies to be more environmentally friendly
- For 91% of Brazilian consumers, “green actions from companies can really have an effect on the world’s environment”
- 41% of US consumers said they care about the environmental impact of products they buy
References:
This article was compiled using a report by Mintel. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses but made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the link below: